Five Memorable Television Libraries

Television, like a magic carpet, transports us to many amazing places. Some of my favorites feature bookstores. Some are fanciful; some are mundane, but they all created a thirst for adventure and sparked my imagination. Here are some of my favorite fictional TV libraries.

Time Enough at Last, The Twilight Zone

The remarkable Burgess Meredith exults in a post-apocalyptic setting, rejoicing that he finally has time to read all the books he wants. Always alone, but never lonely, Meredith found the world of books more welcoming than his real life. I first watched this episode as a fairly child, firmly sandwiched within a clutch of rowdy siblings. The climactic cry of “it’s not fair” rang true.

Bonus Episodes:

Twilight Zone revisited library settings in other productions. Meredith also starred in The Obsolete Man, in which he played a stoic librarian standing against a dictatorship. In The Library, Frances Hardman Conroy, known for her outstanding performance in American Horror Story, played an aspiring writer who takes her craft a little too seriously while working part time in a private library.

Dr. Who recklessly travels through time and space saving worlds while purportedly leaving historical timelines unaltered. For all his futuristic prowess, he still quaintly relies on paper books. His love of the arcane is fantastically apparent in Silence in the Library, which features an unbelievable planet-sized library filled to the rafters with every book ever written. Best of all, any book you request comes straight to you.

Image Courtesy of School Library Journal

This episode also contains one of the favorite fan geek cries,

The Librarians, TNT

For those who believe reading is their super power, The Librarians serves up a healthy dose of action heroes banded together to solve mysteries, catch mythical baddies and save the world from certain destruction. Part geek chic, part Indiana Jones, the lavish Library contains not only books, but fantastic artifacts.

Image Courtesy of Critictoo.com

Sunnydale High Library, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I spent my high school years living in Sunnyvale, California, so I was predisposed to love Buffy and her Scooby Gang. Trying to survive high school is like living on the edge of a hell mouth, so vampires, werewolves, witches and other things that go bump in the night weren’t that much of a stretch for me. Giles, librarian and slayer trainer, not only keeps all underworld info at his fingertips, he also keeps a handy cage of weapons just in case.

The Land of Ooo Library, Adventure Time

Tiny origami warriors called Pagelings, secret guardians of The Land of Ooo library, battle the book eating Moldos. Their campaign, aided by series protagonists Finn and Jake, is constantly shushed by librarian Turtle Princes.